Reverend Dimmesdale
Mister Dimmesdale is a reverend in the colony.
He is a young pastor, who has a good education from studying at one of the great 'English Universities, bringing all the learning of the age into our wild forest-land.' (Pg. 61, ll. 19-20) He has a white, lofty and impending brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes and a mouth which, unless when he forcibly compressed it was apt to be tremulous, expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of self-restraint. (Pg. 61, ll 23-26)
He had to speak to Hester Prynne, while she was standing on the scaffold. He tried to convince her to speak out the name of Pearl's father. As his lips are tremulous and cheeks are white he may be kind of nervous and frightened. Is it like this all the time or just now? Is he afraid of something?And what about his voice? It says tha "The young pastor's voice was tremulously sweet, rich deep and broken. The feeling that it so manifested, rather than the direct purport of the words, caused it to vibrate within all hearts, and brought the listeners into one accord of sympathy. Why on earth is he so nice to her? Hasn't she done something really bad that a person that has such a high position as a reverend should not tolerate? Does he know the father? IS he the father? Cheating on somebody with a reverend that is NOT allowed to have sex at all is maybe not the best thing... But it doesn't matter if he is the father or not he has to play some kind of an important role. Why else would he be described in such a detailed way nearly as detailed as Hester's husband?
Good questions. You're on to something here.
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